Tatum, Brown help Celtics demolish NBA-leading Bucks 140-99

MILWAUKEE(AP) — Whether or not Boston catches the Milwaukee Bucks in theEastern Conference standings, the Celtics will have reason to feelconfident if the teams meet in the playoffs for a second straightseason.

JaysonTatum scored 40 points, Jaylen Brown added 30 and the Celticssteamrolled the NBA-leading Bucks 140-99 on Thursday night. TheCeltics (53-24) shot 22 of 43 from 3-point range and moved withintwo games of the Bucks (55-22).

“It doesmatter,” Brown said about the possibility of earning the No. 1seed. “We want to finish out the season strong and see whathappens.”

Boston wonthe season series with the Bucks 2-1, which would give the Celticsthe tiebreaker if both teams finish with the same record.Bostonbeat the Bucks in seven games inlast season’s East semifinals.

Jayson Tatum was a BUCKET in the CelticsW:40 PTS8 REB8/10 3PM🪣🪣🪣 pic.twitter.com/II9gZczsHi

The Celtics trounced the Bucks139-118 in Boston on Christmas Dayandlost 131-125 in overtime on Feb.14.The Celtics didn’t play Brown, Tatum, Marcus Smart orAl Horford in that overtime loss.

Boston’splayers downplayed the notion that their lopsided victory wouldsend any sort of message to the Bucks in case they meet again inthe postseason. They noted the Bucks were playing for a secondstraight night and shot just 37.6%, well below their norms.

“This don’treally mean much,” Brown said. “If we play them again, we’ve got tobe ready to take their best shot.”

The Bucksdidn’t provide anything close to their best shot Thursday.

“We knowwhat the deal is,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, who led the Buckswith 24 points. “If you’re not focused and you don’t play hard,they are going to kick our (butt). Simple as that. There is nolevel of concern. It’s a fact. If we play the same way, we’ll havethe same outcome. We’ve got to have some pride.”

Milwaukeetook a hit on the floor as well as in the standings. Bucks forwardKhris Middleton left midway through the third quarter after takingan elbow to the face from Brown, who was called for charging. Buckscoach Mike Budenholzer said after the game that Middleton got“three or four stitches” on his upper lip.

Bostonbuilt a 114-74 lead through three periods, causing most of thestarters for both teams to sit out the entire fourth quarter.

The Buckswere playing one night after a149-136 victory at Indiana inwhich they shot a season-high 62.4% from the floor with JrueHoliday scoring 51 points and Antetokounmpo having 38 points, 17rebounds and 12 assists. This marked the first time an NBA team hadone player score at least 50 points and another have atriple-double with at least 35 points in the same game.

Milwaukeefound the going quite a bit tougher Thursday.

Antetokounmpo shot just 11 of 27, including 0 for 5 from 3-pointrange. Holiday started his night by sinking a 3-pointer, but went 1of 7 the rest of the way and finished with just six points.

After thefirst 8½ minutes of the game featured nine lead changes and fiveties, the Celtics seized control by going on a 29-9 over the lastseven-plus minutes. Boston capped that spurt by scoring 13 straightpoints.

Bostondidn’t let up the rest of the night as the Celtics shot 56% andbounced back from a130-111 lossat Washingtontwo nights earlier.

“Weresponded well from the jump,” Tatum said. “That’s all that Iwanted and we wanted as a team, regardless of if we won or not,just to respond and play better than we did last game.”

TIP-INS

Celtics:Boston outscored Milwaukee 41-21 in the second period and matchedits highest second-quarter point total of the season. ... PaytonPritchard didn’t play due to left heel pain.

Bucks:Milwaukee’s Thanasis Antetokounmpo was ejected with 1:25 left forhead-butting Boston’s Blake Griffin. The head-butting came afterGriffin committed a flagrant-1 foul against Antetokounmpo. ... Thismatched the Bucks’ most lopsided loss of the season. They fell142-101 at Memphis on Dec. 15.

UPNEXT

Celtics:Host the Utah Jazz on Friday.

Bucks: Hostthe Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.